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Penn State Football: Belton feeling at home in running back room

Penn State shuts out Kent State, 34-0

Penn State running back Bill Belton dives in for a touchdown giving the Lions a 7-0 lead during the first quarter at Beaver Stadium. Kent State linebacker Darius Redmond gives chase.
Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com

STATE COLLEGE -- Dance through a hole
as a running back, and you're likely to get planted on the turf. Make it a
persistent habit, and a spot on the bench may be next.

Bill Belton danced
down the near sideline Saturday, but this time, it was quite OK with Penn State
head coach Bill O'Brien. After all,
Belton's tap-dance after hauling in a heave from quarterback Christian Hackenberg allowed
him to sneak into the end zone, giving Penn State its first score on the way to
a 34-0 rout of Kent State.

Two years ago, Belton
may have made that same play, but he wouldn't have been lined up beside
Hackenberg before the snap. Instead, he likely would have been split out wide,
an ode to the fact that he was recruited to University Park in the class of 2011 as
a wide-receiver out of Winslow Township in Atco, N.J.

A year ago, Belton
was making the transition to running back, one quickly spurred by O'Brien after
he arrived in State College. An ankle injury suffered in the season-opener with Ohio made sure it
wasn't a smooth conversion, and Belton's stat line is evident of that. The then
sophomore finished with a mere 318 yards from scrimmage, and, outside of a
three touchdown, 103-yard day at Iowa, never hit his stride.

Now, he feels he has.
It's in part due to having a year of running back experience under his belt,
but Belton admits that once he heeded the advice and coaching of O'Brien and running backs coach Charles London, the transition became that much easier.

"It's a credit to the coaches.
They did a good job with me," Belton said Saturday. "I think last
year, I was more closed off as a player and person, and I think I just opened
up more so to the coaching and taking their advice a lot more than last year.
It definitely helps.

"When you have an injury like
that, you kind of take yourself back from playing football and everything like
that. You try to do things on your own, but they did a good job with me and
staying in my corner and helping me," he continued. "They helped me
with my patience, and getting down hill, so totally credit them for that."

Fellow running back
Zach Zwinak said that he believed Belton felt at home shortly after attending
his first running backs meeting. It was a notion Belton didn't dispel, though he said he knew it would take time to acclimate himself with a new position
grouping.

O'Brien has offered
high praise of his now junior back in recent weeks. He's more decisive now, the head coach says, and has made strides with his route running. The proof is in the numbers.

"I think when you look at when we came
here, we moved him from receiver to running back. I do, I think it takes a
little time. Even though he was a high school quarterback, he played in the
backfield, it takes a little time," O'Brien said. "Then he got
injured, he had a high ankle sprain for a lot of last year. He missed a lot of
time.

"He's come into this year, he did
well academically in the summertime, he had a really good training camp,"
he continued. "He's practiced well and he's played well. He did a good job
today and it was
fun to watch."

Penn State running back Bill Belton is tackled at the 1-yard line during the third quarter at Beaver Stadium. Penn State beat Kent State, 34-0.
Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com

Belton nearly scored a second touchdown
Saturday, and he certainly would have earned it. The junior accounted for 33 of
Penn State's 51 yards on a scoring drive that was seemingly capped when he
scurried through a hole and stretched across the goal line from a yard out to
give Penn State a 21-0 lead with just under five minutes to play in the fourth
quarter.

His fourth touchdown of the season
would have to wait, however, as video review overturned the score, placing
Belton down at the one. Penn State switched to its big package and trotted Zwinak
onto the field, who proceeded to score his seventh touchdown of the year.

Any football player that tells you he
doesn't want to score is telling a fib, but Belton said he very much believes
that as long as the six points hang on the Lions side of the scoreboard, it
doesn't matter who gets the credit. He explained afterward that his teammates
bust his chops for "always being down at the one-yard line," but
Zwinak explained he takes a ribbing, too.

"We all give each other a hard
time. I feel bad sometimes because they work so hard to get down that far and
then we switch the personnel and I go in and I'm like 'aw that was
yours,'" Zwinak said. "I feel kind of bad sometimes but in the end as
long as we're winning the game that's all that matters.

"They get to take their shots at
me and give me a hard time."

Zwinak, Belton, and Akeel Lynch will
all get their chance to take a shot, both at each other and in the end zone.
Fittingly, both involve a good time for the trio of backs.

Just ask Belton, who after two years of
off and on contribution, has finally found a home.

"I feel at home now. Eventually, I
knew I would. I knew it was going to take time and it wasn't going to happen
overnight," he said. "You know, we do a good job of playing off each
other, whether it's Zach, me, or Akeel,
so we're all just having fun out there and enjoying the process."